THIS RESEARCH PROJECT WILL EVALUATE: A. The effect of desferrioxamine administration starting concurrently with the transfusion program in the prevention of iron-overload induced damage of heart, liver and endocrine glands. B. The effect of desferrioxamine on the evolution of chronic active or persistent transfusion hepatitis, a complication often encountered in children receiving transfusion therapy. C. The effect of desferrioxamine in a group of patients with thalassemia intermedia who are not receiving transfusions. Five regimen and increasing doses of 12 hour subcutaneous infusion of desferrioxamine (20,40,60,80,100mg/Kg) will be carried out, in order to find the lowest dose beyond which increasing amounts induced only minimal additional iron excretion. This dose will be used daily for a three-year trial. All the patients will have baseline and at 4-6 months interval pediatric, hematological including serum ferritin, radiological, biochemical including liver function tests, virological, endocrinological, cardiological and ophthalmological evaluations. Moreover thalassemia major patients with chronic hepatitis will have liver biopsy once per year. The effectiveness of desferrioxamine treatment to determine iron balance will be evaluated comparing the amount of iron excreted over the past month with the amount of transfusional iron load.